On March 20, 2007, WildBlue announced that its new satellite, WildBlue-1 is now partially operational and they are deploying new customers to use it.
Comments by WISPs on some of the mailing lists were universally dismissive. I think that such comments might be misplaced hubris.
One reason is that WildBlue-1 is the first of a generation of satellites that are specifically designed for providing consumer / Small Office / Home Office Satellite-based Broadband Internet Access, not to mention that WildBlue commenced their service with ground station and user equipment designed in the 21st century, not the late 20th. To date, we haven't seen how well WildBlue can really perform because they've been leasing capacity on another company's satellite. My guess is that, using WildBlue-1 and follow-on satellites of the same type, WildBlue will be able to provide "pretty good" Broadband Internet Access... though one cannot beat the inherent latency of an 89,200 mile "packet/ack" round trip (x2 for a data packet to be received).
Another reason is that to date, using leased satellite capacity, WildBlue has been severely constrained on the total number of customers that it can offer service to, so WildBlue hasn't been able to do a "full press" in marketing to rural customers on a national basis. When courting consumers, marketing really, really counts, and the majority of WISPs are not very good at marketing, often only using a phone directory listing, their corporate web page, and word of mouth. Done right, WildBlue could easily conduct a direct mail campaign to all potential rural customers.
One last reason is that WISPs shouldn't be too smug about WildBlue's prospects is, surprisingly, price. WildBlue's service packages start at $50/month. To some consumers with minimal needs for broadband, that might well be an enticing offer.
There are a lot of potential customers for Broadband Internet Access in the US that don't have any alternative to satellite-based Broadband Internet Access. Yes, satellites have been a generally poor alternative in the past, but with WildBlue-1, that may be changing.
By Steve Stroh
This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh
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